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Monthly Archives: May 2014

For decades, polluting industries have argued that California’s policy approach to addressing cleaning up our air harms our economy. The misleading warnings and doom-and-gloom predictions haven’t materialized — instead Californians continue to support our state’s approach to addressing climate change, in polls and at the ballot box.

It’s unfortunate that some continue to spread misinformation, largely based on the messaging of certain industries like oil companies that want to escape the level playing field where others like automakers and utilities are already playing.

Despite what you might have read, California landmark clean energy and climate law, Assembly Bill 32, and its cap-and-trade program currently being implemented, are working just as intended. The state’s largest emitters must buy permits to pollute. The marketplace, not the state, sets the price of those permits based on supply and demand. The beauty of this system is that each regulated company must look to the future and figure out how and when to cut harmful emissions — and the need for permits — most inexpensively.

As a business owner, I appreciate that level of certainty, and it’s that predictability of AB32 that has allowed the program to thrive. California’s cap-and-trade program has been praised as the best designed in the world. And the system is working. More than $663 million in proceeds are available to invest in clean energy and communities impacted by air pollution. Then there is the 17 percent decline in emissions in California from sources regulated under the cap since 2008.

Meanwhile, California is a hotbed of clean energy innovation. Our state attracts more private investment than any other — more than $27 billion since 2006, according to the California Green Innovation Index — and with new investments come jobs. We are seeing a thriving clean vehicle marketplace — registrations of zero emission vehicles increased 62 percent between 2011 and 2012 — and with cleaner cars come savings at the gas pump.

Most new technologies are expensive at first. Just like calculators, personal computers and smart phones, solar power and low-emission vehicles are becoming more affordable all the time. As they catch on and prices drop, consumers have more options that can save real money on monthly energy bills.

So the question isn’t how much more gasoline might cost in the future. The question is how many options consumers will have to reduce their dependence on volatile gas prices in the first place.

The state’s clean energy policies like AB32 are creating more and more options every year, and Californians are enjoying the benefits.

Consumers also will get cleaner fuel and transportation options, with less reliance on oil, through policies like the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a key component of AB32. A new study by ICF International, commissioned by a coalition of business groups, looks at the LCFS’s impacts on the economy — including employment rates, personal income, and gross state product, and finds that any potential adverse impacts will be negligible and will be far outweighed by all the positive impacts.

California’s LCFS and AB32 cap-and-trade program are structured to ensure that emissions in future years will continually decline. Capturing transportation fuels within the cap is essential to managing the largest source of emissions within the state.

Air pollution, drought, wildfires — these are all costly to our health and our communities. We will pay far more in the future if we don’t fully commit to reducing the impacts of carbon pollution today.

AB 32 is already doing what needs to be done: reducing carbon and air pollution for everyone. It’s a win for our environment, our health, our economy and our pocketbooks.

Business people are, by nature, careful planners. Most executives wouldn’t think of starting a venture without a business plan, detailed budgets and thoughtful growth plans.

It’s important to have the kind of information available that helps businesses decide how to invest and grow. So we were pleased to see the California Air Resources Board adopt the AB 32 Scoping Plan Update last week. It’s a road map for where California will be headed in terms of building a clean energy economy and tackling climate change.

It takes the long-term view, beyond 2020 and out to 2050, and it will help businesses figure out how to continue to innovate in and profit from California’s growing clean energy economy.

For businesses across the state, California’s pioneering policies on climate and clean energy have added up to opportunity — opportunity that didn’t happen by accident. The 2014 California Green Innovation Index, produced by the nonprofit Next 10, shows expanding consumer demand for the products and services of our state’s clean technology sector.

The index shows that jobs in California’s “core clean economy” — key clean sectors including energy efficiency, clean generation, and storage — grew by 20 percent between 2002 and 2012, compared to 2 percent growth for jobs in the state’s economy as a whole.

Over the same time period, renewable energy generation in our state surged 56 percent, and businesses across California have been growing as the sector expands.

Meanwhile, our state’s efficiency efforts are helping businesses cut costs. For industrial electricity consumers, average monthly power bills have dropped by 64 percent since 1992, according to the 2014 California Green Innovation Index.

California has grown so energy efficient that we create 1.7 times as much economic activity as the rest of the U.S. with the same amount of energy. This is a real competitive advantage. The state’s policies have been critical to the success of companies that we have worked with — companies like Bloom Energy, Clean Power Finance and SolarCity.

Now is the time for California to focus on how to build on this success. Our state should ensure that its energy efficiency and clean energy initiatives continue far into the future.

That’s why we are eagerly following the California Air Resources Board process for implementing the Revised AB 2 Scoping Plan and supporting efforts to lay the groundwork for AB 32’s next chapter. This landmark law only takes us through 2020, but we think the state should plan for what comes after that by gathering information on what scientists say is necessary, and what economists and technological experts think is feasible.

This is the kind of responsible planning that has worked so well for California so far. Setting ambitious but achievable binding pollution targets beyond 2020 will give businesses market certainty and help them identify where opportunities are likely to arise.

When it comes to climate and energy policy, businesses appreciate our state’s forward-looking stance. In fact, we count on it. And we will rely on the latest AB 32 Scoping Plan — and on further developments in Sacramento — when drawing up our own plans for a more prosperous, more sustainable future.

Dan Adler is managing director of the California Clean Energy Fund. Mike Mielke is vice president of environmental programs and policy for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. They wrote this for this newspaper.

When you’re right you’re right, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo is right about sparking a power revolution in New York.

I’ve criticized the governor over fracking. I live in New York with my wife and three kids, and I firmly believe fracking is a threat to our watersheds, our environment and our health.

I’m thrilled to praise his decision to rethink how we produce and distribute energy. Gov. Cuomo envisions moving from big, centralized power stations controlled by utilities to de-centralized power options that families, businesses and towns can control. This would change the landscape in New York — and serve as a model for the nation.

Big, centralized power stations have long dominated the electricity landscape. Almost everybody has had to buy power from utilities that enjoy regional monopolies on electricity.

But, as the price of installing small-scale energy equipment continues to drop, families, businesses and institutions want more control over how they produce, store and use energy. As captured in the state’s Draft Energy Plan, Gov. Cuomo and the Public Services Commission are working on bold plans to bring the state’s energy system into the 21st century.

The changes will open the energy market so that decentralized generation can flourish, and utilities are no longer threatened.

The real power of this new vision comes from empowering New Yorkers to own and control more forms of clean energy. Many more will be able to add small-scale clean energy sources, including wind and solar power. Schools, office buildings, factories and homes can make more of their own power and sell any leftover energy to the grid.

It took a lot of hands to reach this point and a strong administration. The state’s plan combined with extension of the NY-Sun Initiative and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s investments in local, clean energy businesses mark true progress.

Fossil fuel prices are infamously volatile; sudden price hikes can blow family budgets and wreak havoc with business plans. With renewable energy, you never have to worry about sunlight or wind prices going up.

With new capacity coming online, customers won’t have to pay for new power plants or deal with the higher bills and increased asthma they can cause. Generating electricity closer to where it’s used also means less energy lost in distribution.

The governor’s plan envisions micro-grids, which can protect neighborhoods from wider outages during severe weather like Superstorm Sandy.

By restructuring its power system to allow consumer choice and clean energy to flourish, New York will attract investment, grow small businesses and grab a bigger slice of this market. There is money at stake: Globally, investment in renewable energy was $254 billion last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Jobs are also in play: More than 300,000 long-term jobs will be created in New York as we transition to 100 percent clean energy, according to a Stanford University assessment.

The governor’s plan is visionary, but the devil will be in the details. We look forward to working to ensure this plan delivers cleaner, more affordable, more reliable energy, a stronger economy, and a healthier environment. New York can avoid extreme fossil fuel extraction and help lead the way to a cleaner energy future for our nation and the world.

Mark Ruffalo is an actor who lives in New York and advocates for renewable energy and water defense.

The oil industry continues to try to beat back California’s pioneering clean energy policies. But we at Consumers Union believe their efforts will ultimately fail. That’s because California’s families and businesses are better served by having more energy choices, a level playing field for alternative energy producers, and a focus on efficiency and clean energy innovation.Take the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which is part of California’s groundbreaking AB 32 clean energy and climate law. The LCFS—which requires carbon pollution from transportation fuels to be cut by 10 percent by 2020—is a frequent target of oil industry criticism. That’s not surprising, since the LCFS is designed to open up fuel markets to cleaner alternatives to petroleum, which means competition for oil companies.But oil interests go too far when they claim this will wreak havoc on the state’s economy, and insist that the gasoline-centric status quo must be preserved if the economy is to continue to grow. A new study by ICF International, commissioned by a coalition of business groups, looks at the clean fuel standard’s impacts on the economy, including employment rates, personal income, and gross state product, and finds any potential adverse impact will be negligible and far outweighed by all the positive impacts in most cases. California’s economy should continue to grow just fine.Exaggerations abound about how the Low Carbon Fuel Standard will result in big price hikes at the pump, with some claiming gas prices will rise over $1 a gallon. But the new ICF study—based on transparent modeling methods that are widely accepted—puts the cost to the petroleum industry at pennies. Given their profits over the last few years, it’s up to the oil companies whether they will absorb the costs of cleaning up their act and polluting less, or will pass these costs on to their customers.Here’s some perspective: Since 2010, California gas prices have fluctuated by an average range of ​75​cents per gallon, mostly because of swings in global oil prices, refinery shutdowns and accidents, and shifts in seasonal demand. But thanks to California’s clean energy policies, demand for petroleum is already being driven down, and is expected to cut fuel bills by up to 30 percent by 2020.

And here’s how California consumers will benefit from policies like the LCFS. They will get more clean fuel options and less reliance on oil. In the long run, these trends will ease upward pressure on gas prices. And they will hasten the day when there is real competition and genuine consumer choice in fuels and transportation options—the day when petroleum is no longer the only game in town. Californians also will get cleaner air and water, and improved public health.

That’s a better future we should all get behind.

George Slover is senior policy counsel at Consumers Union, the public policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports.